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Re: Trying to Find the Light Again

Originally Posted by satay

Namaste,

My impression is that most of us who grew up with a religion can never entirely convert out of it. My personal opinion is that Sanatana Dharma is so vast and open that it should not matter if you practice both hinduism and christianity. When our sages said that let wisdom come from all directions then let it come from all directions.

I think what's more important than following a religion is practicing its principles and to see if that practice makes you a better person; if it does then keep with it.

BTW, Christianity is not the only religion that talks about hell. Buddhism does as well. What is interesting to me is that you went back to christianity (the religion you grew up with) instead of say buddhism because of your hellish experience. That highlights my above point.

Namaste,

I would like to find some balance in this because its one that I just cant seem to find and that is the balance between Christianity and Hinduism, both coming from the same source. But many may not get what is being said.

From a spiritual and sanatana dharma point of view there is no reason to encroach on another person's belief, but due to the creation of both Christianity and Hinduism, it seems that is not followed according to the principles of sanatana dharma.

Hinduism is more commonly accepted as a national identity, not a religion due to the variety and diversity, so it poses much less of a problem as the majority of Hindus are welcoming to other peoples religions by choice, but not always by circumstances. Christianity ( which should not be associated with original Christ Consciousness) is something far different. It based on a divide and conquor war based materialistic agenda. History and upto date current issues are witness to this.

But there is an area where, Hinduism, Jainsim, sikhism and Buddhism are some how different religions, this is not a naturally occurring philosophical system within India, it was created by Christians. I find it odd here that Christianity is more welcomed than Buddha Dharma, often sikhs, and even other Hindus , unless it suites a purpose, jains and other lesser known living traditions.

Siddharta was from a vedic family, and even if we avoid all the philosophical debates according to the same sources that made the translations he had a Antyesti ( funeral by fire) according to Vedic kshatriya rules, this is more symbolic to the nature of the translations and a falsehood, because Siddharta as the human form of an enlightened being would not have been burned due to him being realised and his relics preserved. I know of not one person who is considered to have attained mukti to be burned as per sanatana dharma traditions.

Also you say Buddhist believe in hell, only as a state of mind which has dependant causes and will have a duration and continuum. Thats totally different to a belief, and there is no condemnation or an ever lasting state i fone does not accept Buddhism as their faith and refuge, these ideas are totally foreign, so the two cant be compared.

There is Absolutely no connection with current Christianity other than having an idea of a Supreme Being and some idea of morality and sentiment, which are far inferior and often harmful and will not produce the right states as per sadhanas of sanatana dharma.

Christianity has itself put to fire its own Gnostic's and often times installed brutal rulers as pioneers and called them saints. All of this is well highlighted by Atheist speakers and historians, what to speak of natives themselves that carry wisdom in orals traditions and samskaras, continuum of thought impressions, sadhus can read beyond words and external appearances, im not making anything up or even showing bias.

Its whole history is based on destroying other cultures. Its no that sanatani's want to reject them and their belief, but it seems to carry a certain danger, thats the problem.

I actually met in Delhi one of the main Christian preachers India by chance , who travels as far as Sri Lanka and Nepal, and we had a talk for about an hour. He was a nice enough man and we had a very good chat, he seemed to want to get across that I was sinner and needed salvation, it was an emotional technique that has become his natural algorithm. He had been in India for more than 30 years, and knew nothing of any of the traditions other than they are less developed (diplomacy) and they need to find the new real saviour. Anyone who knows India from the ground up knows how much of a problem this is causing, dividing communities, breaking up families and causing more harm than good. We had a nice chat civilly and finally he was left questioning the last 30 years of his stay in India and his own beliefs.

This is not even against Christians, there are many forms of Christianity and some are open minded and want to learn more, but this opens the door also for the problems to come in. Luckily I am not from that conditioning or religious upbringing , where i grew up it was multi cultured, although I would often sit outside the sikh gurdwar and admire them and i always liked the gurbani's, and had Indian and Muslim neighbours and had no problem, i stayed and lived on an off in a Muslim family for a number of years and not once did they try to convert me, as i grew up it was Christians that seemed to only think in one way.

Synthesis of dharma traditions seems to be said here as a preliminary for knowing something higher, i take that statement on a conventional level to mean my idea of religion is somehow superior, which is odd seeing that the speaker has very little understanding of what he says, which is not the thinking of sanatana dharma or the sadhu, and certainly not one that deals with madhyamika/buddhi yoga, because if that was explored in detail then we arrive at unifying all the dharma's as algorithms of awakening in sutras and texts. This may be a direction beyond most understanding due to the complexity caused by Monotheistic's pen, mostly because of the philosophical isms that caused philosophy in the dharma traditions, which was created by the external thought and control system.

While I welcome anyone from a Christian background who shows interests hwo i meet in real life, i also feel the need to explain that ultimately there is very little in common from Church based Christianity and sanatana dharma.

Maybe some light could be thrown on this as I have little clue within conventional peoples thinking what is the best way around this. Give an inch they take a mile...